Title, its getting way too much, initially I was fine with Variants, but they went too much on it and its just getting more and more lazy and it ruined everything.
Many fans have been asking for Civs like Spain Aztecs Korea Portugal Poland etc for many years, and the more variants you add, more it gets delayed, i mean AOE4 has been released for 5 Years, and the only DLC that adds new Civs are Byzantine and Japanese from 2023
Its seriously time to put a stop to all the variants nonsense, sales would be significantly more if its real civs, not a variants, Jin you tried to cater to the Chinese Audience but you did it wrong, and the reviews for all the Variants DLC are negatives, not only do Jin back in the days Jurchen speaks their own language, they were not part of Chinese, they were the Invaders.
Jin would be a Real Civ if you guys actually took the time to polish the villager looks to make sure its not the same as China, same with Houses and ensures the new units have their own voicelines, AOE3 theres many Manchu Units, and they all speak Manchi which Jin does the same
When Half of the Civs are almost all Variants its starts to become a Real Problem, Laziness, lack of creativity you call it, or perhaps Microsoft is just too poor and cant afford anything now
we told you the plan of making low quality content but you defend this. now face the consecuences
To defend this path i can say every civ in aoe2 is a variant civ.Devs made some mistakes in variants jd and zhu xi even ootd is not even a civ they are just fantasy but variants after that are very acceptable.Specially Jin dynasty is literally a new civ not a variant but titled variant.Yes sometimes they are lazy and go easy path like i can understand houses can be same because it is variant but if you are adding unique building like manor i would have wanted to see unique building but we get two houses looking at different directions. Also devs listens players too and i thank them for this and they will probably read this and try to do their best(i hope).
i hope these variants civilization get completely deleted .some day
More than ever, Age of Variant Civs 4 (anyway, the next Nordic DLC brings 2 new civilizations, the Vikings and the Scots)…
Imo this is a bad comparison since a variant civ is well.. a variant of its parent civ. What you refer to is a base design principle.
The only Age game that have this are AoM with the Major God selection and now AoE 4.
They didn’t even record the Jurchen/Manchu voicelines. Though if what Ornlu says about Tanguts&Tibetans is true, perhaps it’s not laziness but Microslop lawyers being overzealous.
Yep this was extremely disappointing, AOE3 you have Manchu Lines, AOE4 apparently cannot get any, and they claim Jin was a New Civ, which was not
the villager shares the same look as China, TC is the same too, no new voicelines
Only after we waited for 3 years, I am talking about Post Vikings and Scots, I am making this thread to encourage the devs to make real civs like Spain Aztecs Korea Vietnamese Persia etc, anything but not Variants. We have 11 Variants at this point, isnt that insane?
This is no longer true and as of 2026, new Civs comes with several units, plays completely different with Mechanics, and came with new buildings and looks too, and they get new music/ voicelines completely while we don’t
To be fair, AoE4 does receive Vikings and Scots this year
Never forget the 3 years of waiting we did, the only time we receive new civs were Byzantine and Japanese which was 2023, its already pass 3 Years
now look at the Variants they did (11 total)
Did aoe 2 get anything new?Other than casltes?
They gave Malians and Ottomans free it was free dlc.
A new architecture set for the South American civs and the Inca eventually moved away from the North American set. Plus some rebalance for the new circimstances.
Yes, you’re right, they are variants, but at least they are super unique with many unique units and technologies…
Yes, in the anniversary edition…
its a Big problem when half of the roster are Variants, it basically increase your chance to fight the same nation massively.
Like French you have much higher chance to face another French nation, it doesnt matter if they play differently, they are still French, and speaks French, and uses French buidings
Thats because theres 3 French Civilization in the game, same with 3 Chinese Civilizations, its too much
I play this game for age of empires, not age of Civil Wars
and its insane people still ask for more Variants, i guess they would be happy when this game have 50+ Variants, 15 Unique Civs
Yes, it must be more about cost-benefit… variants are a faster way to get new civs without having to wait years for that…
Look how many English houses there is beside House of Lancaster, if you adds all of them, thats easily 10+ English Variants, if Variants makes you people happy go for it, i guess we’ll never see real civs after Vikings if the community is still hellbend on supporting Variants
Because the Devs goes - Oh the Community love Variants!!! we dont ever need to make New Civs again, just make variants for ez money and low effort
